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1 of 4Ron Howard, center, signs autographs for fans during his visit to Austin, Texas, on Thursday.

Photo by Circuit of the Americas

2 of 4Constructing replicas of mid-1970s Formula One cars was on of the challenges that faced the film crew for Rush.

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3 of 4A Formula One show car and one of the trophies were on display at a kickoff luncheon in Austin, Texas, on Thursday.

Photo by Circuit of the Americas

4 of 4Film director Ron Howard.

Photo by Circuit of the Americas

Ron Howard, two-time Academy Award-winning director, (A Beautiful Mind, Frost/Nixon), on Thursday delighted a capacity crowd in the Austin (Texas) Hilton Ballroom by previewing a five-minute clip of his much-anticipated Formula One film Rush, due in theaters on Sept. 20th, 2013. The script was written by Peter Morgan, who collaborated with Howard on A Beautiful Mind.

Rush is the story of the epic 1976 F1 championship battle between Niki Lauda and James Hunt. According to Howard, the film is now in post-production, on time, and under budget.

Autoweek asked Howard what was the most difficult thing about making Rush.

“There was always an element of danger, and even our precision drivers really experienced it,” he replied. “We had two big rain races to do and we had cars spinning out and you know, you try to guess where to put the cameras and the extras but we had a couple—no one, no one got hurt—but we had a couple near misses I found pretty daunting”.

The other thing, Howard continued, is that the original cars either don't exist or were not available for filming.

“It's terribly expensive to build a replica and we were a little bit limited,” he said. However, he said a huge breakthrough occurred when many owners of historic F1 cars rallied around the movie, “and for a very, very nominal fee they were bringing their cars and letting us work with them, and that brought so much authenticity to the film”.

When asked what he thought would draw the American public into F1 racing, Howard said, “Motorsports are huge, and whenever I talk to NASCAR fans, they know about Formula One, especially the sophisticated fan. It's speed. It's risk-taking. And it's incredible, incredible competition”.

Howard was in Austin to headline “The Starting Grid” luncheon, the official kickoff for the Formula One United States Grand Prix, scheduled to run at the new Circuit of the Americas on Nov. 18.

After the luncheon and a brief press conference, Howard left for a tour of the track in nearby Elroy. Howard said he intends to return to Texas for the race.